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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23323729">Hold Hands For Safety</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/batneko/pseuds/batneko'>batneko</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Laserbox AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Laserblast's awkward villain!crush, Laserbox AU, M/M, child endangerment, the timeline doesn't check out but just let me have this</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:15:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>837</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23323729</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/batneko/pseuds/batneko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The first (written) part of my laserbox AU. Spun off from a suggestion by bookbelle314 on tumblr.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lord Boxman &amp; K.O., Lord Boxman/Professor Venomous</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Laserbox AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1677322</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>69</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hold Hands For Safety</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The smoke was thick, with the acrid stench of burning fuel. Laserblast sucked in a lungful of it as he tried to cry out, barely managing to call “K.O.! K.O.?” around coughing fits.</p><p>He’d remembered to grab his helmet on the way out the door, but there were too many small fires and smouldering chunks of exploded robot lying around to tell which heat signatures were human and which weren’t. Still, Laserblast kept going, slowly tracing his way back through the rubble to the last place he remembered seeing K.O.</p><p>Sparks was going to kill him. The thought kept running through his mind. What kind of hero- What kind of <em>father </em>took his toddler son with him to go villain-spotting? He hadn’t even intended to stop it. Which lost him hero points but might gain him father points, since that meant staying out of harm’s way.</p><p>It just… it had just been so <em>long.</em> Laserblast hadn’t seen Boxman in <em>months.</em> He’d been lying low, working on something, and anything that managed to hold the attention of someone so impatient for this long would <em>have </em>to be impressive.</p><p>And it was. Up until it exploded. Then in the chaos and bustle of getting all the civilians to safety, Laserblast had lost track of the one civilian he was <em>most </em>responsible for.</p><p>If K.O. had so much as a scraped knee, Sparks was going to kill him. And Laserblast was going to let her.</p><p>“K.O.!”</p><p>The fires were dying down, but it was still hard to see more than a few feet.</p><p>“K.O.! Can you hear me?”</p><p>Distantly, Laserblast heard the chirp of a voice he knew better than his own. He couldn’t make out any words - not that K.O. had many - but he started running toward the sound.</p><p>“Ba-ma!” K.O.’s voice said, and an adult voice replied.</p><p>“I keep telling you, kid, it’s Boxman.”</p><p>“Ba-ma.”</p><p>“Oh, whatever.”</p><p>“Boxman?” Laserblast called, more out of surprise than anything else. He’d assumed he had an escape hatch or something when the robot went up, and would be long gone.</p><p>“Laserblast?”</p><p>He emerged from around a fallen chunk of masonry, looking charred and exhausted, and he had K.O.’s chubby little hand clutched in his human one. K.O. seemed fine, perfectly content to walk hand-in-hand with this man he didn’t know, though he had a handkerchief tied over his nose and mouth to protect against the smoke.</p><p>It felt like Laserblast’s heart had started beating again for the first time since he realized his son was missing.</p><p>“Of course you’re here to witness my latest failure,” Boxman said, rolling his eyes. “Well you shouldn’t have bothered, it all blew up in my face.” He wiped a sleeve across his cheek, streaking the grime rather than removing any of it. “Literally.”</p><p>“Y- You- He-”</p><p>“Oh, right.” Boxman scooped up K.O. with a hand under each armpit and held the boy out. “Here, take him before someone else sees me and ruins whatever villain cred I have left.”</p><p>“You saved him?” Laserblast blurted.</p><p>“Eh.” Boxman shrugged. “Didn’t really need to. He was just wandering around, wasn’t even scared. I was older than this before <em>I</em> started appreciating a good explosion.”</p><p>Laserblast took K.O. from Boxman’s grasp, and K.O., on cue, greeted him happily. “Daddy!”</p><p>“That’s right,” Boxman said, and for a second Laserblast’s stomach sank. “This nice hero will help you find your daddy.”</p><p>“Ba-ma.” K.O. waved at him. “Boom!”</p><p>“I sure did, huh kid?” Boxman shook his head and chuckled. “Weird little guy,” he said, but it sounded fond.</p><p>Something creaked overhead, and Laserblast hugged K.O. to his chest protectively. He was tempted to grab Boxman too, but between the two of them Boxman was probably the more durable.</p><p>“Welp, I’m out of here.” Boxman gave Laserblast a suspicious look. “Unless you want to arrest me for property damage.”</p><p>“I’m sure you learned your lesson,” Laserblast said.</p><p>“Oh I most definitely did not.” Boxman grinned, making Laserblast flush and hoping he was smoke-dusted enough to hide it.</p><p>“Well… I’m sure all these buildings were insured.”</p><p>“Probably. Too bad.” He turned and waved as he walked off into the haze. “See ya, Laserface.”</p><p>“Bye bye!” K.O. said, waving back.</p><p>“Bye kid. Be good or whatever.”</p><p>After a minute he was gone, both from view and from Laserblast’s scanner. Once certain he was out of sight, Laserblast sighed and hugged K.O. as hard as he dared.</p><p>“Daddy!” K.O. giggled.</p><p>“Daddy’s sorry,” he said. “Daddy's… a lot of words I don’t want you to learn yet.”</p><p>He felt the dull impact of K.O. patting his helmet. The handkerchief still tied to his face smelled like citrus and engine grease. Something Boxman would have shoved in the pocket of his coat, but still an improvement over breathing smoke.</p><p>“I hope you liked Boxman, K.O.,” Laserblast said softly. “Because that man’s gonna be your stepdad some day.”</p>
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